According to Howard Orloff, founder of Crowdfunding-Website-Reviews.com, there are four types of crowdfundingcampaigns: donation, reward, debt and equity crowdfund-ing. “The two most relevant to pizzeria owners are reward andequity crowdfunding,” Orloff adds. “Reward crowdfundingwould be as simple as selling a coupon or gift card to raisefunds for something like a replacement oven or minor renova-tions. Equity crowdfunding is a great way to raise capital foradditional units.”Orloff shares some tips to ensure a successful crowdfundingcampaign:•;Transparency;is;key.;The;more;information;an;owner;is;will-ing to publish and share, the more likely he is to run a suc-cessful campaign.

•;Reward;crowdfunding;requires;little;more;than;great;prod-uct and service. It all starts by reaching out to your loyal
customers for support.

•;Follow;these;steps;to;success:;Build;your;social;network;;find
the;right;crowdfunding;platform;for;your;type;of;campaign;
and consider working with a crowdfunding consultant (
running a successful campaign can be more difficult and time-consuming than it appears).

The Franchising Route

Scott Svenson, co-founder and CEO of Seattle-based MODPizza ( modpizza.com), has expanded to 15 locations through afranchise model and believes that franchising is great for grow-ing a concept in a capital-efficient way, but this option hastrade-offs, he notes. “You’re not capturing as much of the up-side, but you’re outsourcing your capital needs to the franchisepartner,” he explains. “This helps you to grow quickly and overa broad area.”However, if you think you can franchise your business withlittle;up-front;investment,;think;again.;“Franchising;can;beexpensive. If you have one store and you want to franchiseanother, it’s going to cost just as much as opening up a secondunit on your own, so you shouldn’t enter into this lightly,”says;David;Barr,;chairman;of;Your;Pie;( yourpie.com),;based;inAthens,;Georgia.;“Be;sure;you;understand;the;success;of;thecurrent concept and how it might translate into future units.”Finally,;Keith;Hayman,;owner;of;Nashville-based;MusicCity Pizza ( musiccitypizza.com), advises evaluating each fran-chise deal to ensure that it’s sound and supports manageablegrowth.;To;help,;Hayman;hired;a;director;of;operations;thatunderstands the franchise model to avoid mistakes. “You wantto get quality people around you and quality people for yourfranchised;units,”;he;explains.;“But;you;also;need;to;fully;un-derstand the costs.”

Tracy Morin is PMQ’s senior copy editor.

For operations like MOD Pizza (above) in Seattle,
franchising has its good and bad points; Your Pie (top,
right) partnered with a private equity firm to assist in its
franchising plan, while Keith Hayman of Music City Pizza